Crazy Headaches when doing Olympic Lifts

So I've been dabbling in Crossfit lately, at least the stuff for which I have equipment and doesn't involve running (which I hate on principle).

I've noticed when I'm doing, for example, something like clean and jerk w/135 for 10 reps, near the 10th I start getting a splitting headache.

Has anyone run into something like this? I've got no idea what it could be. I can only guess that it's due to increased blood pressure or something along those lines, but my BP is pretty normal given my shitty diet.

Which should (in my amateur assessment) lower blood pressure somewhat. I have had creatine headaches in the past, and those fucking suck; it's like some asshole midget is behind one of your eyes trying to kick it into your lap.

I'm not sure they're the same thing, unless it's just being brought on by the exercise.

I've had those on a couple of occasions, specially on the back of my head (near my left hear) or right in the middle of my horrendously manly unibrow :tongue: (the last type resembling the dreaded "ice cream" headache.) You might not be off the mark when it comes to blood pressure (at least localized on the head). Shouldn't be that much of a concern, though.

Do you, by any chance, suffer of sinus, rhinitis or allergies? I know that my sinus causes that problem sometimes. I just take some claritin, do some nasal irrigation and then I'm all good.

Also, you might want to decrease either the volume (reduce the # of reps to 7 or 8) or the load (110-120), and then see if the symptoms persist. Then, if they do not, stay with that volume/load and begin to increase either accordingly.

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What Asriel suggested on creatine. With high volume, that thing sometimes gave me a headache as well.

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Oh, it could also be the volume AND intensity. If you are doing them "for time", you might want to split a set into two 5-rep sets, with some seconds of rest in between.

Kinda defeats the purpose if you are doing the reps for time, but little by little you decrease the mini-rest time until you can do all 10 reps continuously without having splitting headaches.

Also, check BSN Nitrix. That thing worked great for me, like creatine, but without the headaches and the constipation.

The street argument is retarded. BJJ is so much overkill for the street that its ridiculous. Unless you're the idiot that picks a fight with the high school wrestling team, barring knife or gun play, the opponent shouldn't make it past double leg + ground and pound - Osiris

Yeah, I'm going to blame Dr. Valsalva for this one. Try focusing on exhaling smoothly through the lift, not holding your breath. You could also do some process-of-elimination by doing high pulls instead of cleans - if not doing the catch = no headache, the high BP would logically be from the bar compressing you as you catch it.

Alternately, if it's dehydration, you can confirm and solve that quickly - more water and (a bit) more salt throughout the day, and squeeze some sports drink cut with water in between sets.

Creatine headaches suck, but based on my own experience, if they persist past the end of the loading phase, see the section on dehydration.

As noted above, dizziness could be low blood pressure. Alternately, it could be low blood sugar. But since you're not reporting dizziness, that's academic.

You think headaches are bad. I used to do 1 clean and jerk to get my barbell on top of my bench so I could do squats before I purchased a power rack. Just after I got it to the top and placed the barbell on the bench I would often start to loose consciousness and black out. Sometimes I would notice myself starting to fade and slump over the barbell and hold on for dear life. My god I suck balls.